The optimist sees the glass half full.
Pessimists see the glass as half empty.
A person whose glass is full, cannot absorb or is not willing to learn anything new or valuable.
And then there is the person who glass is completely dry.
Which glass is yours?
There is no shortage of information today because we live in a global culture where everything is available 24-7-365, and there is no OFF SWITCH.
Perhaps you are a “polymath”. This is from the Greek word “polumathes”~ which means one who has learned much. These folks are opposed to learning or growing because they think they know all there is to know.
Perhaps you know someone like this. A person who is an MD. Must certainly know “much.” So does someone with a PhD in a specialty. This person must be an expert and know much about the topic his PhD is in. What about a chemist, an artist, a world-famous violinist, pianist, composer, an inventor, an astronaut? It is said that studying anything for 10,000 hours = an expert in that thing. Do you agree?
Twenty years of being in the business of coaching, training, mentoring and teaching people from all sorts of backgrounds and countries, in business for themselves or being the CEO of a company, has taught me one thing – at some point in each one of these lives a person has had a glass in all these measurements. No one stays at the pinnacle all the time. Then there are times when someone thinks they already know all they need to know, and they reject learning anymore. This person is hard to work for and is not a team player. There are times when one feels like things just are not working for them, and they can’t seem to find the answers, tools, or skills they need, so they view their glass as half empty. These extremes are viewed through the perspective glasses one is wearing. These glasses change with seasons in life.
These are all reversible.
The continuous thread to reverse each glass is simple.
Can you guess what it might be?
It is “Humility” and the ability to realize you do not have to have all the answers. You do not have to be the smartest person in the room, much less the world. Life and business have a way of causing situations, events, trauma, and disappointments in our lives and business that cause us to pause and take stock of what we have experienced.
I often wonder why some people keep receiving and others are still hurting. I remember a saying that goes something like this: “There will always be the rich and the poor among us.” Do you ever wonder what you can do about this?
Most people don’t; I’m afraid to say they should. Even one small act of lifting up another person or calling out the “wrong” in something is a small step forward. If we do nothing and stuff that awkward feeling deep down inside us, it only hurts us.
Are you willing to try this?
We each deal with negativity in our lives differently. We stuff it down, and eventually, it “numbs” us, and we don’t feel anything or care about anything. There is a saying: “What we resist – persists!” Dr. Daniel Amens has a term for these negative thoughts – “ANTS” [Automatic Negative Thoughts Syndrome].
But what if we took a different approach, much like the person who views their glass as half-full? How might things look differently?
These folks take that negative energy and turn it into positive action! Positive action, in turn, moves them forward and upward.
Here’s another line of on-the-spot questioning you can do with yourself to see if what you believe to be true [meaning your glass is half empty] is actually true.
Ready to try?
Next time one of those negative thoughts comes into your head, ask yourself:
“Is this a true thought?”
Give your answer, then ask:
“How do I know it is absolutely true?”
Give your answer, and it cannot be “just because you say it is” or something like, “My experience has always been…..”
Ask yourself: “When was the last time this wasn’t true?”
“How did I handle that situation?”
“Do I notice a pattern to my thinking and my immediate action[s] I take based on this negative thought?”
Now, we are getting somewhere. Most of the time, you will notice you developed a negative habit a long time ago based on limited information, factors, beliefs, and emotional responses to that event.
It’s like peeling the other skin off a banana or an onion before you get to the usable part.
With each of our negative emotional responses to things, we will get an emotional impact on our lives, careers, relationships, and so on. It is a domino effect in all respects. By “Reframing” what we believe to be true we can unearth what is really going on and where what we believe about things is coming from.
Turning this negative way of thinking around is just a matter of asking the negative questions in a positive manner. Below are some examples you might like to try.
“How long will it take me to….? Instead, ask, “How much better will I feel when I …?”
“I know this won’t work; it never has worked.” Instead, ask, “What if it does work?”
“How much will it cost me to do this?” Instead, ask this: “What will I gain if I do this? “What do you think you might try? Let me know. I don’t have all the answers. I only have the answers; I ask my clients for their replies on their experiences and results from trying these methods.
janice@janicebastanicoaching.com
8914 Collina Ct.
Granite Bay, CA 95746
908-229-3797
www.janicebastanicoaching.com
www.johnmaxwellgroup.com/janicebastani
